Deb's Musings | Books and Beyond

Who will write the next Great American Novel? PBS recently sponsored the Great American Read , featuring 100 of our favorite novels. What makes a novel great? Is it characters, plot, setting or resolution? Is it what we learn about ourselves as a result of reading it? Is it the feeling we have when we think about it? Is it the impact a novel makes on the world or the reader? Every author has a different explanation on the process of writing. In a TeachingBooks.net movie, Lois Lowry talks about how she doesn't use an outline , but allows the story to move and shape with each new event. Kate DiCamillo shares how she reads her draft aloud --which may contribute to why her books are great read alouds. And then there is the question of where do stories come from? Jack Gantos keeps journals --boxes and boxes of journals as idea sparkers . David Weisner's newest book, I Got It , came from an idea he had as a child--what happens in your mind can seem much longer than what happen...